Anyone walking through the Tuindorp district of Utrecht is confronted with one great scientist after another. There is an avenue named after geneticist Hugo de Vries. There is a road there that commemorates the botanist August Pulle.
Among all that academic seriousness, one joke has crept in: the Professor Zonnebloemlaan. The unsuspecting passer-by may suspect an erudite historian or chemist behind this, but Tintin readers know better. The hard-of-hearing, absent-minded and short-tempered professor Trifonius Zonnebloem is one of the main characters in Hergé’s popular comic series.
The naming in the late 1990s did not come about without a fight. Most street names date from 1934, when the district was constructed. Others followed in the 1950s, when Utrecht annexed parts of Maartensdijk and Voorveldse Polder. In 1998, a new road was constructed during a new construction project, for which a name had to be devised.
All other roads were named after a professor with a relationship with the cathedral city, so it was logical that this was also the case for this avenue.
Suggestion of ‘buyer network’
The street name committee focused on Dr. Theodore Dentz (1840 – 1933), lecturer in dentistry and founder of the Dutch Dental Society. Utrecht University saw more in a street in honor of Johannes Martin Bijvoet (1892 – 1980), a chemist who conducted important research into X-rays.
This was without taking into account the future residents, who had united in a ‘buyer network’. They came up with the suggestion for Professor Zonnebloemlaan. It was a professor, was original, would not cause confusion and would be funny for the many young children who would come to live in the houses.
The street name committee responded with the deadly seriousness of an academic argument. Zonnebloem was not a “real” professor, had no connection with the cathedral city and therefore did not fit in with the district. The fact that the committee wanted to keep Utrecht University friendly may also have played a role, which is why the official advice was Bijvoetlaan.
‘Just kidding should be possible’
The future residents did not leave it at that and approached then acting mayor Ger Mik. “The residents assured me that they were unanimous. If they come up with such an initiative, you have to look at it seriously,” Mik said by telephone during an afternoon walk. “This was a nice and creative idea, so I advised the council differently than the street name committee and they liked it.” With his efforts, the name was finally introduced in 1999. “It fits in with the neighborhood and a joke like that should be allowed at some point,” says Mik.
In the end, things turned out all right for Bijvoet and Dentz. Just south of Tuindorp-Oost, Doctor Dentzlaan and Professor Bijvoetlaan are brotherly next to each other. Both streets are less than 100 meters long, but you can’t have everything. The Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research is also located on the Uithof.
Donald Duck Avenue
Tuindorp is not the only neighborhood where cartoon characters are honored. Almere has a real Stripheldenbuurt, where citizens can feed ducks on Donald Ducklaan, eat spinach in Popeyestraat or read in Okki and Tinastraat. Professors are not missing here either: Professor Pi, Professor Lucardi and Professor Cumulus all grace the blue plates here. Professor Barabas, the second choice of the buyers network in Tuindorp, unfortunately still has to make do without a street name. Perhaps a road could be named after him in the next district expansion or, just an idea, a female professor.